Choosing Core Courses Level 2

The following courses are listed by academic area. Students are required to take one course from each of THREE different areas. (Level three courses may be substituted provided pre-requisites have been satisfied.)

Art, Design and Media

A discursive topic based course designed to familiarize the student with the range of ideas, the varieties of form, the uses of imagery, and the nature of content in the visual arts. The material is considered from a practitioner's viewpoint. A studio fee is levied on this course.

Reflecting strongly the mission of the University, this course provides a theoretical and practical foundation for the degree in Communications. It provides students with a strong sense of their own complex cultural identities before moving on to teach them the theories underlying the study of International Communication. There will be opportunities for practical applications of these theories in case studies, simulations, and project work.

This course aims to introduce students to the study of contemporary non-western popular music. This music, often derived from traditional ‘folk’ forms and originating in cities such as Kingston, Havana, Sao Paulo or Kinshasa, is just as likely to be heard today on the streets and in the clubs of ‘global cities’ such as London and New York . This course investigates these urban, culturally hybridized forms of popular music as representative manifestations of 21st century cultural globalization.

Business & Economics

An introduction to basic economic methodology. Within a framework of supply and demand analysis, the behavior of producers and consumers is examined in the context of the efficient allocation of scarce resources in society.

This course introduces students to a theoretical treatment of national income and its key component parts. Macroeconomic models are used to examine policy issues and contemporary problems relating to output, income, spending and employment as well as inflation and growth.

This Course covers the development of the world economy since 1750, examining the process, causes and factors favouring industrialization, and later deindustrialization, in the major countries involved. Differences and similarities between countries are analyzed, along with institutional factors and government policies.

Humanities

The course follows the expansionist nature of colonial societies from the first contacts with sub-Saharan Africa to the abolition of slavery in Brazil. The overview is the effects these processes had on all the peoples involved, particularly around the growth of the slave trade and the consolidation of slave systems of labour. Emphasis will be placed on the factors involved in colonization and slavery: economic, cultural, racial, and religious.

Provides an understanding of some of the major issues and themes that underlie the development of the United States from WWI to the end of the Nixon presidency. Particular attention is paid to the emergence of the United States as a global superpower, the consequences of such a rise to dominance, including the means by which America has projected its newly acquired power globally: financially, diplomatically and militarily.

An introduction to the themes and debates that have constituted modern thought and consciousness: nature, religion, science, progress, education, gender, and the public sphere. These themes are explored through critical reading of key texts by Locke, Rousseau, Diderot, Voltaire, Kant, and through contemporary visual representations and modern visual media. Students debate the role of reason in science and religion; the centrality of knowledge and education to the development of the enlightened individual; and the importance of sociability, politeness, and conversation in the formation of the secular system of values which shaped modern society. The course is designed to be interactive, with lectures, seminars, class presentations, and class visits to relevant exhibitions.

This course introduces students to discipline of philosophy. It examines various branches of philosophy including logic, epistemolgy, ontology, ethics, political and religious philosophy. It takes a topic-based rather than historical approach, and looks at set of problems such as the mind-body problem, empiricism versus rationalism, and subjectivism versus naturalism. To this end, various important Western philosophers will be considered including Aristotle, Descartes, Locke, Hume, Kant & Russell.

Languages

ITALIAN STUDY CENTRES ONLY. Reviews complex grammar structures and provides students with exercises in reading, composition, phonetics, syntax and style. Continued practice in conversation will provide students with increased capability to communicate competently in Italian. Admission to the course is based on a placement test in Italian. PREREQ: 3/4 SEMESTERS OF ITALIAN

ITALIAN STUDY CENTRES ONLY. Reviews complex grammar structures and provides students with exercises in reading, composition, phonetics, syntax, and style. Continued practice in conversation provides students with an increased capability to communicate competently in Italian. Admission to the course is based on a placement test in Italian.

This is an introductory course to Mandarin Chinese language, with an integrated approach to the Chinese language and Chinese culture. While the course primarily focuses on oral communication based upon key structures and vocabularies, reading Chinese characters and writing are integral parts of the course. The course will introduce fundamental speech patterns, key characters, essential vocabulary items and cultural and linguistic knowledge associated with the use of the language, with which students should be able to communicate in a limited range of contexts in everyday life situations.

This is an introductory course to Mandarin Chinese language, with an integrated approach to the Chinese language and Chinese culture. While the course primarily focuses on oral communication based upon key structures and vocabularies, reading Chinese characters and writing are integral parts of the course. The course will continue to introduce key speech patterns, important characters, essential vocabulary items as well as cultural and linguistic knowledge associated with the use of the language, with which students should be able to communicate in a more extended range of contexts in everyday life situations.

Either MCL 4100 or MCL 4105 will fulfil this requirement. Transfer credit of university-level language study will be considered on a case-by-case basis for fulfillment of the Level II core curriculum requirement in Languages. The course must be the equivalent of the second stage of an intermediate university-level language course.
Note that all courses taken at other institutions after a student's admission to Richmond must be submitted for course approval to the Office of Academic Affairs before the course is taken. Pre-approval is essential to ensure that the student is taking the correct level of language study to fulfill this requirement.

Social Sciences

Provides students with an introduction to development studies, seeking to explain both the existence of and persistence of a Poor World from a political, sociological, historical and economic perspective. The course addresses numerous issues as they affect the Poor World, and studies relations both within and between Poor World and Rich World. Topics include colonialism and post-colonialism, processes of industrialization, food security, inequality, nationalism, aid, democratization, and conflict, as well as an introduction to theories of development.

This course is a broad introductory survey of international relations. It acquaints students with the fundamental concepts and theories used in the discipline that help us make sense of our political world, and are crucial for further analysis of the field. The course gives students a taste of the theoretical debates and practical dynamics of global politics. It further examines some of the major challenges that humanity faces in the 21st century. Students get a chance to learn about and take part in the major debates of the discipline, for example concerning actors in the international system, the sources of insecurity, the relevance of economics to international politics, the importance of fighting poverty and underdevelopment, questions about how best to address environmental challenges, whether the state is still important and if globalization is a phenomena of the 20th century.

This course is designed to be a study of the evolution, and gradual development of, the European ‘states’ system. It will provide a comparative cultural, economic, historical, and political analysis of how international systems have evolved and functioned, illustrating the ways in which ‘states’ interact with one another within systems. It will begin with the fall of the Roman Empire in Western Europe, move through to the early European systems of the medieval period, on to the wars of religion of the sixteenth century, the defeat of Napoleon in 1813, and end with the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. This course will analyse the development of European international systems, the methods via which they were spread, and examine the elaborate rules and practices that regulate them.

This course provides students with an introduction to political thought and political philosophy, as it has developed in the Western World. The origins of modern political thought and political ideologies are discovered and explored through the study of a range of major political thinkers, such as Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Burke, Wollstonecraft, Marx, Mill, and Nietzsche.

This course introduces students to the study of gender and investigates how male and female differences can be interpreted across a range of cultural variables. In addition to exploring a variety of theoretical approaches and debates related to gendered institutions (the family, work, the media) and gendered interactions (friendship, love, sex), students will also consider current issues related to the changing nature of global gender relations

Theatre

Introduces students to the principles of directing and visual interpretation for the stage. The fundamentals of stage focus are closely examined, along with the natural areas of visual strength in blocking/staging and communicating with actors. Communication techniques for audiences through stage pictures and composition are evaluated and the underlying principles of the relationships between actor and director and the relationships between characters are examined. The course is a practical one: students work on exercises and progress to practical directing sessions of short assigned scenes, then onto the final chosen scene to be presented to an audience.

An introductory movement workshop that facilitates an exploration of connections between the mind and the body. Following the principles of a physical-theatre drama workshop, this class is designed to increase students awareness and control of their own body and voice in the space, be it the classroom, the boardroom or the stage. Students explore methods of increasing their energy, personal confidence and creativity in the approach with which they present themselves to the world, and will practice a variety of techniques based on utilising the mind-body connection in order to enhance intellectual and creative development and general health and expression.